Mark can she not wipe off since many have perished in Prisons even of late years through her Persecution But if any will contend against it and defend her to be out from the Mystery of Iniquity and in the Truth walking in the Truth as a True Church of Christ We are able to prove to the contrary through the strength of the Lord even from her Teachers from her Ordinances and from your Lives and Conversations all which demonstrate you to be gone astray from the truth as it was delivered by Christ and his Holy Apostles and are in the Fornication of the great Whore are yet drunk with the Wine thereof and shall also drink of the wine of her wrath if you repent not Your Teachers teach for hire as the False Prophets did of old against which the True Prophets cryed out for so doing Your Ordinances none of them will abide the measuring line of the Scriptures and so are but the outward Court left out for the Gentiles who tread the holy City under foot Your lives are carnal Your Conversations earthly in the Lusts of the Flesh in the Lusts of the Eyes in the pride of life yea Your Solemnest Meetings are full of that sin for which God drowned the old VVorld Gen. 6.11 even full of Uiolence witnesse the violence done to any that come in to speak a sober word of truth among you and to inform you of your condition Oh sink down into your selves and think Is such a Company the Spouse of the Lamb Christ Jesus Is this his Church his Body the Pillar and Ground of Truth were such things abound Take this VVord home to your hearts and consider it well namely that you are not got out of this Mystery of Iniquity till that from whence it grew be dissolved That you may understand this saying take notice that the Mystery of Iniquity grew from hence even from the Earth unsubdued in Mans heart which covering it self with a Profession of Truth outwardly formed that Profession or Religion to its own Lust or Liberty that the Earth might still be saved alive in Man and live and he enjoy his Lusts therein And here in this state stood Balaam and in his way did the first Hereticks run in the Apostles times loving the wages of Balaam for reward and in his steps do they walk to this day and those that are one with them in the root and ground though differing in outward appearance For to this day its the same The Earth standing in Man's heart and a Religion or Profession raised up over that forms a Mystery of Iniquity and begets an Antichrist It forms a Mystery of Iniquity or a myst to hide Iniquity with it raises a smoke out of the Pit of Mans heart to blind the eyes of men with and begets an Antichrist a Spirit of Persecution seeking to blast the True Spirit with Reproaches which is Blasphemy And so under the name of Hereticks and such like to slay them to rid them out of the way because they strike at the root in which they live by their holy Conversation and by their chaste Mind to the Wisdom of the Lord abhorring the smoak and myst of mens devisings which arises out of mans heart More particularly to deal with you and to set before you your own state or standing let us compare you a little with the Primitive Times and see whether you answer to the Church then or to the World which hated it and persecuted it The Church of Christ then suffered by the World being distinct from the World called out of it and therefore hated by them of the World Ye suffered joyfully the spoyling of your goods saith Paul to the Church Heb. 10.32 33 34. 1 Thess 2.14 15 16. 2 Thess 1.4 So then in that time there was the Haters and the Hated the Spoilers and the Spoiled the Abusers and the Abused the VVolves devouring and the Sheep devoured Now compare your Church with them Are you the Sufferers or those that put others to Suffering for Righteousness sake Did not the people of tender Conscience who could not worship God after the Traditions of men suffer under your Church both formerly when the Antichristian Lording Bishops ruled it and so fled some to New-England and others to other Places And sinc they were put down still you have been the same What haling pulling pushing abusing of people hath been in your Congregations and by them of your Congregations what beating in your Synagogues stoning in your Streets stocking whipping imprisoning persecuting spoyling of goods c And nowthat those Antichristian Prelates are coming in again you are still the same and the same measure hath been met withall from some of you already If any say Those that did so or do so are but the Rude Rabble and are not to be counted for our Church I Answer These things have been done among you and by them that are of you unrestrained If by the Rude Rabble then behold the Rude Rabble are the strongest part of your Church if they do such things and you cannot restrain them from that violence If you say Yea we could have hindered them if we would but we did not because we look upon those they abused as Seducers Answ Then see you consented to their violence and so made your selves Partakers with them as Saul did when he consented to them that stoned Stephen But say you They were Seducers they were Hereticks that were abused and our Ministers spake against them I Answer So did they stone Steven as a Seducer and all the violence done to them that feared the Lord was in such like thoughts of them they thought they were Seducers and their Ministers spake against them But where did ever the true Church use violence even to Seducers and Hereticks Consider that They suffered violence themselves but never used violence to others So see your selves now on what part you stand For whatever they be that you use violence to for conscience sake whether they be in the Truth or be Seducers yet your violence to them declares you not to be the true Church but to be the World where the persecution is found You are on the Persecuters part not on the Persecuted You are not they that the VVorld hates but you are they that do hate others for Conscience sake such as Paul said they Themselves were before Conversion hatefull and hating one another Titus 3.3 and so others suffer under you for Conscience sake even those against whom you cannot justly complain for any wrong done to you by them and so they suffer innocently as to you although they should be Seducers So see your selves now That your Church resembles not the Church of Christ in the Primitive time but You fully resemble the World that then abused the Saints and Servants of the Lord. And for your counting and calling them Hereticks and Seducers that suffer under You and your Ministers This makes the Sufferers more resemble the true
of the Faith of Abraham and brake down this partition-wall standing in outward Ordinances which he had put between the Jews and Centiles because they were all alike And so out of both he gathered a People to himself and made his Son the Captain of them and gave to them another Ministry Not a Ministration written in Tables of Stone as the first was which was outwardly presented before their eyes to look upon But a Ministration which was inward written in the Heart by the Spirit of the living God Of this Ministration the Son was made Mediator and so this Ministery was confirmed also by great Signs and Miracles which he did in healing all manner of sicknesse and infirmity among the people and raising of the dead and such like This Ministry was of a New Covenant the Ministry of the Spirit into the Heart and therefore it was needfull that the Mediator thereof should be such a one as could enter the spirit of the Creature even the Lord that Spirit who could stand at the door of the heart to minister Revel 3.20 And so here came forth this great Mystery hid from Ages and Generations namely CHRIST in you the Hope of Glory And under this Ministry the Apostle affirmed That if any man have not the Spirit of CHRIST he is none of his Rom. 8.9 for that is his Ministry to minister the Spirit and therefore his Servants and Ministers said plainly that they were not Ministers of the Letter but of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. Therefore see where all they are that partake not of the Spirit of Christ Jesus nor have any Testimony thereof in themselves witnessing with their spirits that they are the Sons of God nor feel the operation thereof in their own hearts drawing them after Righteousness and Holiness but deny it and scoff at it in others that acknowledge the same being guided and taught thereby as usually Persecuters of Christians have done in the Reign of Antichrist Now after this Ministry came forth here arises the Great Mysterie also of Iniquity against it namely an Antichrist against Christ in his Ministry a carnal worldly spirit clothing it self under a Form of outward Observations and yet setting it self to keep down this Ministry of Christ Jesus even to quench and keep down this Spirit of Christ with the Outward Form void of the Power This Mystery began to work in the Apostles dayes Therefore they called the Saints out from a Form without the Power 2 Tim. 3.5 But it could not grow to the height till that which letted was taken out of the way That which letted then was something that letted the Outward Form which it grew up under and that the Persecuting Roman Emperors did a long while for they persecuted and killed such as did but profess themselves Christians so that under them the Mysterie could not come to its height till they were taken out of the way But then after they were taken out of the way and the form of Christianity had scope then it grew apace till at last it was headed with an Universal Bishop which name the Pope took to himself and so still it grew adding one Superstition to another and one Abomination to another and prevailed greatly against the Saints of the Most High Revel 6.9 10 11. and 7.14 and 13.7 So here the holy City was troden under foot by this Outward Court that was the Gentiles gotten into an Outward Form but came no nearer Revel 11.2 And so the Mysterie prevailed until it spread over many Waters that is Peoples Multitudes Nations and Tongues and reigned over the Kings of the Earth Revel 17.1 15 18. And so here that which the Papists make one great mark of their Church namely the Universality and Consent of Nations is plainly a great mark of the Mysterie of Iniquity which overspread multitudes of Nations for a long time Revel 17.2 and 18.3 And under this Great Mysterie the Portion of the Saints hath been that they have been persecuted and slain Revel 17.6 and 16.5 6. and in great Tribulation The VVHORE making the Nations believe that they were HERETICKS and so killing them because they Dissented from their Universal or Catholick Church as they called it Now here is one chief end of this Writing to put men upon this Consideration Whether you be yet under this Mystery or come from under it Whether or no you have got victory over the Beast over his Image over his Mark over the number of his Name as the Saints do Rev. 15.2 Or you be yet drunk with the Wine of her Fornication Rev. 17.2 Are you on the Persecutors part who are many or on the Persecuted part who are few in comparison Are you drunk or are you sober are you drunk with mens Inventions and with blind Zeal and Ignorance and wrath to defend them or are you come to sobriety to hear the voice of the Spirit and of the Scriptures Do not think that because there was a breach from grosse Popery in England formerly that therefore you are out of the Mystery For you did but break off from her in some things but the Life of that Mystery is not yet slain among you so long as you Persecute and tread under foot the Servants of the Lord if you retain the Spirit of the Mystery that marks you for her Servants reform as much as you will in your outward Observations One thing I would have you consider of Whether do you think that England did step at one step out of the depth of the Mystery of Iniquity back again into the pure Truth as it was once delivered by Christ and his Holy Apostles Consider it well Nay verily there have been many stepping forward and you who in outward appearance had removed one degree yet you persecuted all that saw more of the Mystery than your selves and seperated therefore from you Whereby it is apparent that the Spirit of the Mystery was still in you And you prosecuted them with the names of Blasphemy as the great Whore doth that Mother of Harlots and your Mother therein teaching you to call them Hereticks that is such as separate from the Truth because they separated from you making them odious by your Names of Blasphemy which you fix upon them that they might be hated of all men and persecuted by you without pitty Such measure have all they met withal who have seen your Errour in Worship or Doctrine or Life and have therefore witnessed against it so far as they saw Thus it hath been with your Mother your Church of England and this hath been her manner of dealing with all that have stept out from her Errours She hath retain'd the Spirit of her Mother the Mother of Harlots in this her Fornication and she cannot clear her self of it The Imprisonments Whippings and Persecutions of all those She calls Hereticks will jointly witnesse against her That the Spirit of the great Whore is yet retained in her whose Mark is Blood This
against it and can they do any lesse now For they find it not suitable to that Spirit which they are born again of Judge in your selves by the Light of Christ Jesus and according to the Witnesse of God Is it suitable to the New Covenant a Covenant inwardly written in the heart by the Spirit of the living God in which a Creature is to be led of the Spirit and guided by the Spirit and in which he stands in Communion with God having accesse to God in that Spirit that gives him the feeling of his presence and teaches him what to pray forming in his heart strong desires and earnings after God and his Righteousnesse and forming in him a filial frame of Spirit in which he cryes Abba Father and in which he can draw near unto God as a Father Is it suitable to such a Covenant as this wherein God doth thus set at liberty inwardly his Sons and Daughters and enlarge their priviledges in the Spirit and give them such access to him to worship him in Spirit Judge in your selves is it suitable to this Covenant to annex to it a dead literal formal Common-Prayer-Book the Ministry of which may be performed without any measure of the Spirit of the New Covenant yea by such as are so far off from that Spirit in which the New Covenant and its Ministry stands that they make a mock thereat But the Common-Prayer-Book standing in Opposition to that Spirit which they mock at and despise and stand in opposition to themselves hence both standing in one ground They love it and hug it for being in the same ground that unites Hence it is that the Common-Prayer-Book gets so much affection and approbation from all sorts of debauched and wicked livers they can generally flock to that as to their own for it sprung from that root in which they stand both out of the New Covenant both strangers to the Spirit of God They being dead to the Life of the Spirit and not knowing what it is to be led thereby and it also being dead as to the ministring of the Spirit a dead thing which any dead man may perform and be accepted of by them that impose it though he be a Hater of the wayes of the Spirit of God A Drunkard Swearer Lyar any Prophane Person that hath not tasted of the Gifts of the Spirit of God given for Edification of the Body Yea Scoffers Scorners Deriders at the Spirit such as are so far off from the New Covenant of the Spirit that they taunt and kick at the very owning of the Spirit and blaspheme them that own it as may be proved by several Testimonies Yet such can perform that Ministry of the Common-Prayer-Book because it 's a dead thing suitable to their dead hearts and which they can do in their dead condition and well admit of without disturbing of themselves in their dead condition and can please their dead consciences therewith because it lets them be at rest in the death of sin where they delight to be unwakened under death And so Death is ministred unto by Death and Death delights in Death and the Dead are kept in their Graves by that which is dead As common experience hath daily given testimony For where are they that are awakened out of the death of Sin into the life of the Spirit by that dead thing But it 's even as a long over one asleep to keep them in that sleep It pitties my heart to see what deep Aegyptian Darknesse is upon the Hearts of many who thrust themselves into the Ministry as pretending for CHRIST And yet are so ignorant of the things that pertain to the Kingdome of God as that they understand not by what ability that Ministry is to be upheld But set upon it as in pursuit of an earthly Kingdome to themselves as indeed theirs is and that with such carnal supplies and furniture wherewith they have furnished themselves as any meer carnal Man may have who hath no savour of things spiritual Thou blind man that darest uphold such a dead Service and Worship Dost thou not know that CHRIST JESUS ascended up on high and gave Gifts to men for the work of his Ministry under the New COVENANT And were not all they that did Minister to minister as of that ability which God gave in and by the Spirit as a fruit of CHRISTS Ascention And so were not now to be Ministers of a dead Letter but of the Spirit by ministring to others in the Spirit as the Spirit ministred to them And so as the Covenant is spirituall so is the Ministry spirituall As the Covenant is not a Covenant written in Tables of Stone or Brass or Paper or Wood but in the heart by the spirit so the Ministry must answer it It must be also a Ministry not standing in Books and Writings outwardly read but in Gifts of the same Spirit And this the Apostles held out clearly in their Practice and Doctrine And let the Wisdome of Men reason what it will to the contrary and plead according to its carnal Understanding Yet seeing Christ our Lord and the Mediatour of the New Covenant and Establisher of the Ministry thereof hath appointed that it should be so namely that his Ministry should be performed by the Abilities of the Spirit which he ascended to give We ought therein to rest and not to strive against his Will and Wisdome nor to impose Inventions of men into any part of his Ministry So setting our will against his and our Wisdome against his For so to do is Whoredome of Spirit from Christ its Will-worship Idolatry Stubbornnesse Rebellion and the Prop of Antichrist a Cup of Fornication such as the Nations are made drunk with and upon which the wrath of God will come because of Rebellion therein against his Son Even as his wrath came upon Israel after the flesh for their wilfulnesse in following their own Wisdome and Traditions of other Nations and would not be guided by his Directions then under the First Covenant And their Examples are written for our Admonition If any say to me That Good men and some Martyrs have suffered for the Common-Prayer-Book I Answer I deny not but Good Men and Martyrs have suffered thus far on the behalf of it that is They have testifyed against Service in another tongue which they understood not and so born testimony for the Common-Prayer-Book against the Masse-Book which was in Latine that is as much as to say They have testified for the having it in a known Tongue against the having it in an unknown Tongue And so here was one step forward from the dismall darknesse of Egypt spirituall And their faithfulnesse in that was accepted of God and the rest winked at But now that the true Light makes more still manifest we are to testifie against that which is further opened to be evil in it and to be faithfull to that as they were to what they saw A Tender ADMONITION to
mindes Only take heed of those things that caused many to fall in the way and be not discouraged though Pharaoh seem to pursue you with an Hoste For the Egyptians may be hardened to pursue to their own destruction and to prosecute the Seed as if they would swallow them up Look to him that led you out and hold on your way follow the Pillar of smoke and of fire the Power and presence of God that his wing may be over you and take heed of murmuring at the difficulty of the way as some murmured and perished for Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto Life Take heed of unbelief for that enters not into the Promise It 's Faith that overcomes In that go on and make war with the enemies of your souls that are in the way spare none suffer no secret lust to remain alive in your hearts but let the sword of the Spirit come over them to mortifie and slay them and do not satisfie your selves because you have got into this or that Forme for What will that avail you if you go no further It 's the life and power that the Kingdom of God consists in See that you sit not down short of that Are you come to Truth and Faithfulnesse in your hearts so that the world finding your honest plain faithfull Conversation dare trust you and commit any thing they have to you in assurance that they shall not be defrauded or deceived by you If you be not but live in Covetousnesse and Deceit it s neither your departing from Egypt nor sitting down under any Form whatsoever that will do you any good For you are not yet come to the Kingdome of God which is in Righteousnesse and Truth Are you come to an unblamable conversation before men so that they have nothing justly to charge you with and to a good conscience before God which answers to the Light of the Lord in you and so accuses not Are you come to Mercy and to a tender compassionate heart that delights in it and seeks to save your fellow-creature and not to destroy the life of any but only to deliver it from that which would destroy If not the nature of the Saviour is not yet formed in you Are you come to the Light which lets you see your hearts and all the secret thoughts and intents and purposes of them and to love it and turn to it and follow it Are you come to the New-Covenant to receive the Law of God in the Spirit from Christ the Mediator thereof who is the Lord that Spirit that ministers it and so to hear the word that 's nigh you in the mouth and in the heart Are you come to feel the Anointing abiding in you which keeps you abiding in Christ as you are taught thereby and which discovers to you Seducings and Delusions of that spirit of Antichrist that works to lead you from it Are you come to that inward fellowship and communion with God which the Apostles of the Lamb enjoyed and sought to bring the babes of Christ unto Are you come to feel the vvorking of that Spirit of truth in you vvhich mortifies the deeds of the flesh which would hinder your communion with God Are you come to that spirit that renewes and sanctifies and changes your hearts and casts out the old man with his deeds and brings forth love instead of hatred patience instead of frowardnesse and hastinesse lovvlinesse of minde instead of loftinesse harmlesnesse instead of hurting pitty instead of hard-heartednesse gentlenesse instead of roughnesse faith instead of fear and distrust faithfulnesse instead of guile and deceitfulnesse temperance and sobriety instead of excesse and such like wholsom fruits as these instead of the contrary Are you come to that which thus strikes at Iniquity when it would appear in you and cuts it down and brings forth the contrary Are you come I say to that spirit vvhich is the Root from whence all good fruits do spring which is that good Land which flowes with milk and hony that Promised Land that true Resting-place If you be not come to these things How can you think your selves at a period How can you think that you are come to Canaan spirituall where such fruits as these grow How can you sit down as if you were already got into the good Land Come gird up the loyns of your minde and go forvvard vvith us Let us presse on to perfection having our faces still forward in that Kingdome the Treasures of which have no end And clogg not your selves with the love of this present evill world for that will presse you down and keep you back and be a weight to you Minde the one thing needfull and presse toward the mark of the high-Calling of God in Christ Jesus Will it satisfie you to break off from Egypt if you perish in the Wildernesse and fall short of the promised Land the Land of Peace and Rest even the Promise of the Father The Spirit of Truth the Comforter which leads into all truth and into that righteousness the work of which is peace and the effect of which is quietnesse and assurance for ever Isa 32.17 Will you make that a Possession for ever where you had but a Lodging place as it were for a night or two while the Pillar of smoke and fire stood over it Will you stay behinde the cloudy pillar when it is lifted up and gone forward Will you not go along with the power in which the Kingdom of God stands Doth not the Apostle call out of the Form when the Power is gone Come Let us go forward together not looking back again to Sodom as Lots Wife did who was therefore turned into a Pillar of Salt nor as they did who said Come let us make a Captain and turn back to Egypt whose carcasses therefore fell in the Wildernesse Remember Caleb and Joshua who followed the Lord fully with all their heart whom the Lord therefore set into the Land of Promise who pressed still forward when others began to hang back through fear of the lofty Giants whose Faith follow And take heed of lusting after evill things as they lusted who fell by the way Come down out of all Exaltation from any Form that you are got into be it what it will and come into meeknesse lowlinesse of heart humblenesse of mind gentlenesse in the fear of the Lord and become as Little Chidren for in plainnesse of Speech this is the way that our Captain is gone before us and hath left word for us to follow him in Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me saith he for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall finde rest for your soules for my yoak is easie and my burthen is light Bear with me in my pleading thus with you For we would not have you lost who have borne the abuses of the world and the fury of a wicked and untoward Generation for Conscience sake Be not weary nor faint in your mindes nor say in your hearts Where is the Promise of his coming for one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day In his time he will come and not fail Happy is he that endures to the end waiting for him He shall reap that faints not My Affections are towards you who have seen the great Whores Cup of Fornication and have through sufferings broke off from her with us If you be low enough for our Company we would not lose you Is it not the same God that we presse after Is it not the same fellowship with him inwardly in the soul Is it not the same bread that comes down from Heaven which you would feed upon to the inward satisfaction and content of your souls which is the strength of our hearts and which we feed upon every one in his measure And do you finde it in your Form where you stick If not minde the footsteps of the Flock and which way God hath led them and where he feeds his Lambs and minde that which leads them and must lead you into the fresh Pastures where they finde food which satisfies Let go your partition Walls so as not to bear up your selves in your thoughts above others thereby as the Pharisees did and come into the unity of the Spirit where the everlasting Unity stands and which knits all the members of the body together and even from the highest to the lowest though scattered in many appearances So that our bounds lye not in form but in the spirit and where we feel the life If the Kingdome which you seek be not of this world but of another that 's invisible if it be within not without then you must come to that inward guide to lead you into that inward and invisible Kingdom which leads out of the things that unite you to the world namely the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life and him must you follow out of these things into the Kingdom Call that Guide by what name you will Wisdom as Solomon did or the Light which enlightens every man that comes into the world or the Spirit or what other name soever it is named by in the Scriptures That you must obey and follow out of that which defiles and corrupts into that which is pure and holy and eternal For without holinesse no man shall see God nor come to have fellowship with him THE END
A Word of Information To Them that need it Briefly opening some most weighty Passages of Gods Dispensations among the Sons of Men from the beginning And insisting a little upon the State and Condition of the Nations wherein they now stand and particularly of ENGLAND For this end That Men may remember themselves and turn unto the Lord and seek to be delivered from the Mysteries of Iniquity to walk with God in Fellowship and Communion To which as pertinent hereunto is annexed An ADDITION concerning LORD-BISHOPS and COMMON-PRAYER-BOOK With a Tender ADMONITION to those called PRIESTS or MINISTERS And also A Loving EXHORTATION to those that have SEPARATED from their SUPERSTITIONS By W. T. LONDON Printed for Robert Wilson at the sign of the Black-Spread-Eagle and Windmil in Martins Le Grand 1660. A Word of Information To Them that need it c. GOD made Man at the first Upright and Innocent and Pure and Holy walking with him in his pure Nature in perfect peace and in boldness before him having his Understanding filled with Light and Knowledge from the Lord and his spirit possessed with the Spirit of the Lord. And therein he walked before the Lord in great liberty only in one thing the Lord laid a Restraint upon him Thou shalt not eat saith he of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil neither shall ye touch it for in the day thou eatest thereof dying thou shalt dye Gen. 2.17 and 3.3 Now there was no way for that old enemy Satan to rob Man of this happy peaceable innocent Condition but by getting him out of the bounds where God had set him for where no Law was there could be no transgression and where no transgression was death could not enter for death came in upon Man by sin Rom. 5.12 Therefore Satan that old Serpent sets upon Man here to allure and entice him and flatter him into a tryal of that which God had forbidden him by presenting a pleasurableness and profitableness in it Man yeelding the bound was broken that kept Man with the Lord and kept out death and misery And now Sin entering that is transgressing of Gods will and pleasure here with Sin Death entered and another spirit than before had possession in man even the spirit of the Serpent that got in and became Ruler in the Disobedience And now Death came over all in Man and over all Men. The flourishing state of his soul in Righteousness and Innocency that dyed a spirit of shame and fear that covered him and he now fled from the presence of the Lord. And death also must now come upon his body as well as upon his soul for to dust that must return Thus dying Man dyed according to the Word of the Lord. Yet now the Lord's mercies were not clean shut up from his Creature which he had made so excellent and given dominion unto over all other Creatures upon the Earth Gen. 1.28 but he leaves a way open still for Mans return unto himself thorow a promised Seed which was contrary to the seed of the Serpent and should bruise the Serpents head that enticing spirit that leads to Disobedience Gen. 3.15 So then here 's no returning now for Man back again from Death to Life but through that Seed that breaks the head of the winding disobedient spirit Now in this faln state Man lives and begets Sons and Daughters and multiplies and replenishes the Earth Thus the Earth is filled with Men and Women begotten in the faln condition And so as Men encreased and multiplied Sin also that encreased until the Lord repented that he had made Man and so drowned every living Creature wherein was the breath of life that lived and moved upon the face of the Earth Gen. 6.5 6 7 17. Yet in this sinking dying condition a Seed there was from the beginning that served and obeyed the Lord whose hearts were after him to return again unto him who wrought works of Righteousness and walked with the Lord as righteous Abel and Seth and holy Enoch who was translated that he should not see death And besides these a Generation that called upon the Name of the Lord and so were called the Sons of God Gen. 4.26 Yet these also in process of time wore out after that they began to corrupt themselves mingling themselves with the Daughters of Men Gen. 6.2 So that in the dayes of Noah only Noah was found Righteous in his Generation Gen. 6.8 9. whom the Lord therefore with his family reserved from the Flood to plant the Earth with after he had drowned the old world of the ungodly Gen. 7.1 Then again after the Flood as Men began to multiply so they corrupted their wayes again before the Lord so that in Abraham the eleventh from Noah which was about three-hundred sixty seven years after the Flood God began to gather to himself a People again out of the rest of the world who should bear his Name and so he called Abraham out from his fathers house and out of his own Country to walk with him where he would appoinc him Gen. 12.1 When Abraham was come out then the Lord blessed him and promised him to make of him a great Nation and that he would blesse him that blessed Abraham and curse him that cursed Abraham And said furthermore to him In thee shall all families of the Earth be blessed Gen. 12.2 3. So his Posterity in Isaac and Jacob were counted for the Lords Inheritance and owned by him above all the World and called his Son his First-born And by that name he required them of Pharaoh when he sent to deliver them out of the house of bondage Exod. 4.22 23. Then when the Lord had delivered them by an out-stretched Arm from under Pharaohs Bondage to lead them into the Land of Canaan which he had promised to Abraham When he had separated them from Egypt and brought them into the Wilderness of Sinai There he gave them Statutes and Ordinances a Miuistration of Laws written in Tables of Stone Of this Ministration Moses was made the Mediator between God and them and it was confirmed by many mighty Signs and Wonders The Miracles done in Egypt by the hand of Moses their passing therow the Red-Sea as on dry land Moses his fasting forty dayes and forty nights The terrible and dreadful Presence of the Lord on the Mount besides his going before them in a Pillar of Cloud by Day and in a Pillar of Fire by Night And many other Signs and Wonders all confirmed this Ministry given in the hand of Moses Notwithstanding all this and many moe great Signs and Wonders which they saw yet this People rebelled against the Lord and did not walk with him with all their heart but grieved him continually as he complained of them by Moses and afterwards by all his Prophets So that in the fulness of time God sought out another People to bear his Name and turned over the Promises made to Abraham to a spiritual Seed Children
Church to be called and counted Seducers by a violent Generation for so were the Saints accounted in the Primitive times by a like Generation as you are And whereas some may say It s but the rude Rable that use violence I answer It s manifestly proved by their Actions that not only they but their Teachers also are guilty of the same violence partly by stirring up the Rude People and encouraging them thereunto and partly also by exercising it with their own hands as some of them have done and partly also by unjust proceedings through Covetousnesse and Desire of filthy Lucre mingled with a wrathfull raging implacable cruel unjust and unmercifull Spirit having spoiled Families making a prey of their Goods Judg in your selves Is this like the Saints in the Primitive Times or like the World Is this like the Sheep or like the Wolves that devour Again your principal men in many of your Congregations have had a deep hand in these Actions of Violence even your JUSTICES and other OFFICERS among you who have sometimes encouraged the Rude Rabble in their Violence against the Innocent and oftentimes even themselves buffetted and abused and whipped and stocked and thrust out from among them those that harmed them not yea often have sent them to Prison and there most cruelly entreated them during their pleasure and that without any just crime or breach of any of their Lawes many times even thus have they dealt to such as have wronged no man but only sought to informe you of your dangerous state in which you stand as enemies to God and his Truth and wayes wading in Superstitious Inventions which will not profit you For this thing have you thus abused them and you are all guilty from top to toe from highest to lowest who have consented in your hearts to the violence done So see your state where you stand See by your Antipathy to such as fear the Lord and by your Agreement with the world where you are You are yet even of the world though you be counted a Church You have the Name but not the Thing You have not the Spirit and Life of the Saints And so we have good reason to separate from you and to come out from amongst you as we are commanded by the Lord 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Revel 18.4 For your Comparison holds better with the Synagogues of the Jews than with the Churches of Christ and yet you fall short of them also In them there was Haling Pulling Beating Thrusting forth Abusing using Violence as you may read in the Acts of the Apostles And so here is your pattern even the Synagogues of the Jews where the Servants of the Lord were abused for holding forth the Truth But herein you excel those Synagogues in Wickedness and fall short of them in Moderation In that they gave liberty to men to speak among them and to reason and dispute among them as you may read Act. 13.14 15. and Act. 17.1 2. and in many other places in that Book Where you may read what liberty they gave unto the Apostles and Saints in those times though they came with a new Doctrine to them which overturned all their former state of a Church yet did they not abuse or molest them until they heard Doctrine delivered which they accounted dangerous and erroneous But you with open mouth and violence are ready to swallow men up before they can well speak a sentence out to be understood yea though you your selves cannot deny the truth of that which is spoken So that you fall far short of the Jews Synagogues in moderation and sobriety even short of those whom you your selves count Persecuters of the true Church How should you then be the true Church Your Violence breaks out before you understand wherefore so did not theirs So you are worse than they And this is your state and condition So see your selves herein and see your Ministers what they are that encourage you herein The Old World which was destroyed by water and Sodom and Gomorrah which were destroyed by fire are revived in your Streets and Assemblies yea in your solemn Assemblies in the point of Violence which was a principal thing topping up all their wickedness for which they were destroyed The Old World was full of Violence Gen. 6.11 and so was Sodom unto strangers And so are your Streets and Synagogues and therefore spiritually you are more like Sodom and Egypt where our Lord is crucified than to the Church of Christ Therefore take not your selves any longer to be that you are not nor blaspheme the Name of Christ any longer by calling your selves his Church while you live in such wickedness but rather fear his Indigation lest that or some like judgment come upon you which came upon those who lived in Violence as you do The Church of Christ is pure And whoever gets the name and yet lives in impurity shall be kept out from entring into the New Jerusalem which is now coming down from God out of Heaven not seen with outward eyes nor known to carnal hearts nor entred into by the unclean and yet her gates stand open day and night But to keep lower to your capacity In the Primitive times the Church was patient under their sufferings 2 Thess 1.4 Are you so Or are not they rather found such who suffer by you Do not ye cast out hard speeches with your Violence against them that are found in the like patient suffering with the Saints in the Primitive times So see and judge impartially Is it you that resemble the Church of Christ or is it those that you rage against that resembles it Again Is not your Church made up of such persons as fear not God ungodly men and women Sweaters Drunkards Cursed speakers Revilers of those that are good Proud and haughty and high-minded Persons glorying in Apparrel and gay clothing other than what the Apostles of our Lord approved of conceited persons yet dark and ignorant in the things of God men that take pleasure in Wantonness and Vanity and Pastimes as they call them who count foolish talking and jesting an ornament to their speech and grace to their behaviour being past feeling in themselves of the things that displease God and quench the Spirit men that savour not the things of God nor have any pleasure and delight in Holiness and Righteousness to whom it 's a burden even to hear of things spiritual that belong to the Kingdom of God out of whose communication spiritual things are banished so that it 's uncouth and distastful to them to confer of the things of the Kingdom of God before them and especially when they are feeding themselves without fear upon the good creatures of God Others are carnally minded worldly minded having their spirits eaten up with the Thoughts of the world and Cares of the world and Love of the world and Honour of the world and Lusts of the world Covetous persons who dare lie one to another
by steps as they have been able to bear Who have tryed their wayes by the Word of Truth and tryed also the false deceivable wayes of mens Traditions and Inventions Take heed I say of speaking evil of the things thou understands not and if thou hast been guilty hereof formerly repent of that wickednesse and pray to the Lord to forgive the thoughts of thine heart and the hard speeches of thy mouth uttered against the wayes of Truth in the time of thy Ignorance And rest not until thou hast got out of those Mists which have risen out of the bottomless Pit and which have darkened the Sun in the firmament that is the pure shining of the Light into the Conscience Haste haste out of that which the Wrath and Indignation of the Lord must come upon and fly to him in the humility of thy soul repenting of thy errour and blindness and hypocrisie and evil state and course of life thou hast been in and come down to be guided and led of that pure Light which leads to Eternal Life and so to come to the Covenant of God the New Covenant which all are in that are owned by him For this is my Covenant saith the Lord In those dayes I will write my Laws in their minds and put them in their hearts And whosoever is not come into this Covenant he is not owned of God For all his from the least to the greatest shall all be taught of God by his Spirit And therefore saith the Apostle plainly Rom. 8. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Now this is that which The ANTICHRIST by the Mystery of Iniquity hath held you off from for his working hath been against the New Covenant which we now clearly see and by what means he doth it eternal praises be given to our heavenly Father who hath made known his wiles and deceivings For it hath been with a golden Cup that the Anti-Anointing or Anti-Christ hath deceived the Naitons even a fine spun outward Form of Religion of some kind or other So keeping their minds still outward from that New Covenant keeping them busie with this Form or that Form outward that they might never come to mind God in the way of his Covenant For whereas the New Covenant comprehends all the Worship of God inwardly in it self Circumcision inward Baptism inward viz. the answer of a good Conscience to God which is that that saves Temple inward House of Prayer inward Worship inward in Spirit and in Truth Contrariwise The Mystery of Iniquity hath kept mens minds still outward and pleased the carnal spirit with abundance of Outward Observations thereby resting it in them by blessing them in their diligent Observation thereof So that they have not been stirred up to seek after the knowledge of God in themselves and to feel the Communion and Fellowship inwardly with him in the way of his New Covenant in the Spirit which CHRIST was made the Mediator of And so about these Outward Forms and Ordinances so called they fight and quarrel and seek to kill and destroy and so still are kept in the murdering spirit And so lot this be A Sign unto you to let you know in what State that Spirit holds you that makes you zealous for outward formes Is it not in the murthering State where Cain was and yet you see not his wiles for he that murthers is the same from the beginning In the New Covenant it s otherwise for there 's a Spirit that delights to seek and save that which is lost and that is of God and conformable to the Image of his Son To whom be Glory and Honour for ever Amen An ADDITION concerning LORD-BISHOPS Let the Light in every ones Conscience who have any acquaintance with the Scriptures judge Whether Our Lord Jesus Christ allowed of that Lordship and Dominion which those called Lord-Bishops take upon them or exercise when as he reproved the very first appearance of such a thing among his Disciples read Matth. 20.25 26. Mark 10.42 43. Luke 22.25 26. saith he The Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them and they that are great exercise Authority upon them But it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be great minde that 's the thing he reproves whosoever will be great let him be your Minister that is servant and then he repeats it over again in other words And whosoever will be chief among you let him be your Servant And in Luke it s thus exprest Let him be as a younger As if he should say carry quite contrary to such a one in the thing that he would have Whereas he affects Greatness carry to him as a Servant and as a Younger give him not the honour of an Elder Now where 's their Obedience to Christ who dare take upon them such a thing which he hath so plainly forbidden Yea and forbidden others also to receive them as such if any will be so bold as to exalt themselves among them and become great For faith our Lord If any will get up and be great among you let him be your servant and as a younger Wherein the words of Christ is implyed That Dominion and Greatnesse cannot grow up among them except they concurre with him that seeks it and give it to him Therefore as laying a charge of keeping down such a spirit upon the rest of his Disciples he bids them not to concurre and consent to such a thing nor to give that greatnesse to any of his Disciples among them if they should seek it but to carry to such as to a Younger and not as to an Elder and to let him be as one that serves and not as one to Lord it and Rule and have Dominion And so to keep down that spirit that it may not be among You as it is among the Gentiles that know not me to be the one Lord. Honour is in him that gives it If you give it not they cannot have it To open the thing a little further for the simplicity's sake that is in some who think That because there is the name Bishop in Scripture that therefore such Bishops as have the Name now in these dayes have their Authority from Scripture To such I say Minde but the Scriptures well and you will find that the Name Bishop was not given to one that Lorded it over the rest but to the several Pastors or Teachers or feeders of the Flock of Christ read Act. 20.17 and so on to the 28 and 35. The place is so translated that it may be you will discern little in the bare reading of it I shall therefore open it a little plainly according to the Letter of it not by giving you another meaning or Interpretation then what it sayes but by letting you see what it sayes In the 17 Verse its said that Paul sent from Miletus to Ephesus to call the Elders of the Church of Ephesus When they were come he puts
place in the Kingdom of that Mystery as full Friends and Examples but as Enemies and Devourers and Scatterers And so it hath been ever since this Mystery of Iniquity got up The Lambs have been scattered and devoured and trampled upon by that spirit that loves the Preheminence And hereof there hath been sufficient proof For though those Wolves have gloried in the Church the Church as the Masters of Assemblies and Provinces yet the Church hath been trod in the dirt by them And therefore if any one would look back upon the Church of Christ and view the state of it for many hundreds of years past they must not look upon the National Episcopal Churches to think to see it there but upon them who have been devoured scattered persecuted slain kept under and trod upon by those Episcopal and National Churches If you would see the true Church where it hath been in these times past See it there under Persecution by the Bishops and by others that loved to have the Preheminence or else you cannot see it at all For the Bishops Churches and such as theirs have been but the Outward Court given to the Gentiles which have troden the holy City under foot Revel 11.2 And so the Dominion and Greatness and Lordship such as the Lords of the Gentiles use which was forbidden by Christ among his Disciples Matth. 20.25 26. This they could bring into the Outward Court which is given to the Gentiles because it 's answeable to the Gentiles and their nature And so the Outward Court hath had the manner of the Gentiles Government in it and it hath been sutable to them But whosoever comes to be a little Child in the Kingdom of Christ Jesus he will find it unsutable to his spirit and that he must lye down as a Sufferer under it as his fellow-servants have done who have suffered great Tribulation under it and have been trampled under foot by it for hundreds of years And here hath been the state of the Church of Christ the holy City It hath been sore shot at by Words Revilings Reproaches Blasphemies several Nick-names Persecutions Tribulations which it hath endured under the great prevailing Mystery of Iniquity which hath prevailed over Multitudes Nations Kings Tongues Peoples But yet though it hath had the strength of the Gates of Hell it could not prevail against this Little Flock of the Lambs of Christ according as Christ promised to Peter who have still risen though troden under foot and have been made to witnesse against it in some part of it or other Nor shall it ever prevail against the Lambs the true Church to root them out as it desires The time is near for the tumbling down of those Mysteries again and then Wo Wo and Wailing will be the portion of them that are found therein And so now you may see whither they are gone that seek Preheminence and Greatness and Lordship in the Kingdom of Christ They are gone out from the Doctrine of Christ they are gone out from the Faith of Christ and so from the Fellowship of God 2 Joh. 9. For God dwels not with the high and lofty but with the lowly in heart with him that is of an humble and contrite heart such as the Doctrine of Christ teacheth us to be From all these things they are gone out who exalt themselves as Lords over Gods Heritage Whither then are they gone Even into the World and so into the Enmity with God for he that will be the Friend of the World by loving the things of it he makes himself the Enemy of God And so they stand in the Enmity not in Amity with God in the World not in the Church of Christ For it 's in the World where the gods many and lords many are There be faith Paul gods many and lords many but to us who are in the Church and of the Church of Christ there is but one God the Father and one Lord namely Iesus Christ 1 Cor. 8.6 Eph. 4.5 Now if to us there be but one Lord who is Iesus Christ as the Apostle affirms Then where is there any place among us for the many Lords If any other will be Lord must be not go out into the World to receive his Lordship there seeing there can be no more Lords admitted of among us but One who is the Lord JESUS CHRIST And therefore that was a common phrase of speech among the Apostles and Disciples of Christ to say Our Lord JESUS CHRIST or CHRIST JESUS our Lord acknowledging and ascribing that peculiar Prerogative over them to him alone And therefore the Apostles did forbid others to be Lords or as Lords over Gods Heritage and bid them be Ensamples to the Flock 1 Pet. 5.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Impressions as it were or Footsteps for them to walk in Now how can they be Examples and leave Impressions for the Lambs of CHRIST'S Kingdome to walk in of Meeknesse and Lowly-mindedness who get up into Greamess and High-mindedness who love the World and seek to be great in it Can these be Examples to the Flock of CHRIST teaching them by their Example to walk humbly with God and lowly in heart not loving this present evil world nor the Pomp and Glory of it who get into the Pomp and Glory and Greatnesse of it themselves If this be to be Ensamples to go a quite contrary way then may we as well say That a Coward that runs from his Colours is an example of Courage or that a Drunkard or Glutton is an example of Temperance or that those who turned back in their hearts to Egypt were examples of perseverance in the journey to Canaan whom God slew in the Wildernesse that they never saw the borders of Canaan And it were well if all the backsliders in heart who for the Love of this present evil World do turn their backs of the Spiritual Kingdom of God would consider this and call to mind the hand of the Lord against them and fear before him for his hand is not shortned And confider seriously with your selves in coolnesse of spirit If you think in your consetences that the righteous and holy God will be thus mocked by them that shall pretend to be his Servants namely to have them to thrust themselves into those places and under those names where they should be examples of humility to teach his little Flock by their examples to be humble and lowly in heart and then to lead them a quite contrary way by their example Yea to enjoyn others by words before they admit them into the Congregation of Christs Flock as they expresse it in their Common-Prayer-Book I say before they admit them to enjoyn them to promise and vow to forsake the Devil and all his Works and in particular the vain pomp and glory of the World and all the covetous desires of the same and then by their example teach them the contrary and set a pattern before them of embracing this present
evil World like Demas and of getting up into the vain pomp and glory of it Judge righteously in the fear of God and let the Light of Christ have place in your hearts and judge righteously for God if such be not Enemies to the Crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ and Enemies to your Souls keeping them in darknesse and blindnesse by their earthly and carnal conversation and loving of this present Worlds glory and whether you are ever like to come to see the Kingdom of God by following them who are gone so far from the path of it themselves Trifle not with God for he will not be mocked And he is bringing up again into sight and possession that Kingdom praises be to his Name which hath long been troden under foot in the outward Court by such as are of this World and love the greatnesse and glory of it as the Gentles do and are therefore counted and called by him Gentiles Revel 11.2 And now kiss the Son of Righteousness which is arising lest he be angry and ye perish out of his way as some have done when his wrath is kindled but a little And let go the Superstitious Vanities wherewith the Nations have been deceived for a long time and turn to his pure Truth and embrace his pure Doctrine according as he left it and come to live in it and to find your Teacher near you that you may find fellowship with God in your souls So shall you soon become wiser than your Teachers and wiser than your Ancients and grave Doctors and great Lords and you shall witnesse the words of the Psalmist true in your selves Psal 119. ver 99 100. Touching the Common-prayer-Book VVHen Christ ascended up on high he gave Gifts to men for the Work of his Ministry and so they were every one to administer as of the Ability which God gave That God in all things might be glorified through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 4.11 which Gifts the Spirit of God did enable them with distributing to every one severally as he pleased And they were to do the Work of their Ministry as from that Ability that God might be glorified for his manifold Gifts And so the Apostles they kept to that If they preached they spake as the Spirit gave them utterance and so bad others do so to speak as God gave ability and as the Oracles of God If they prayed they prayed as the Spirit enabled them We know not what to pray for as we ought sayes Paul but the Spirit helpeth our infirmities It was not a Book that helped their infirmities in Preaching or Praying but it was the Spirit So here was their ability in the Spirit not in a Book But then afterwards as men degenerated from the Truth and went out from the Doctrine of Christ and of the Apostles and sought to be great and have preheminence in the Earth here they went out from Communion with God and his holy Spirit and so the Spirit of the Lord withdrawing and leaving them they were left destitute of that help And then wanting the assistance and supply of the Spirit of God they went to work another way to uphold their Ministry and invented Forms of Prayer to be a help which they could at all times make use of though the Spirit of God had withdrawn it self And this supply now would serve any one to help them in that Ministry which was sutable enough to their earthly Kingdom And so here grew up all manner of Superstitions and Inventions now when the Spirit had withdrawn it self and the bottomless Pit was opened and smoke came up out of the Pit which darkened all and here grew up the Mystery of Iniquity to an Head to a City to a compacted Form and Method and Government like the Gentiles and now makes war with the Saints and with them that stood in the simplicity of the Spirit and would not become one with them in this their humane invented estranged way in which they were gone astray And so this City grew to be a great City spreading over Multitudes Tongues Kings Peoples Nations And it trod under foot the little City of God that Holy City his Little Flock which could not joyn with them in their invenced wayes And this great City prevailed much over the Saints and Servants of God and boasted much and gloried over all saying in her heart I sit as QVEEN and so compelled all great and small to take this her Cup of Fornication and drink thereof and she hath prevailed to make them drunk therewith And whosoever would not come and drink of her Cup nothing was to be expected by them but Tribulation from her And so they have found it sufficiently and felt it from her hands As the Scripture also witnesseth in several places of the Book of the Revelations which was given forth to declare of that Whores Reign before it came Now this degenerated Episcopacy or Bishops way which is gone out from the Doctrine of Christ and from his holy Spirit and stands in an Earthly Power and Dominion cannot well tell how to subsist and uphold its Kingdom and Ministry without some such supply as a Common-Prayer-Book which may be ready for them and help them though the Spirit have left them Yet that it might be taking in the minds of people they have composed it of as many good words as they can which Satan can well give way to so long as it stands in the Disobedience and Opposition to the Kingdom of Christ and of his Spirit And so it is a golden Cup which this Whore hath in her hand as well in that respect having many good words and fair expressions in it to deceive the minds of the simple as also in regard of the Outward Treasure that it is made the way to there being no liberty to any to trade and grow rich with the Merchandize of that Kingdom but such as shall conform thereto and such have a bait of Gold and outward glory and preferment attainable fet before their eyes in the examples of others as a Mark for them to aim at And so herein their Bishops and Masters of that Worship are Examples to their Flock And so here 's a sutableness between these three namely between The exalted Spirit that 's gone out from Christ and from his Doctrine after the World and between her Cup and the Fornicators with her all of the World all out from the Spirit and so being of one nature all three acquiesce in one another and joyn hand in hand to uphold one another But where is the Babe that 's truly regenerated from above and born again by the Spirit of God that can now joyn in the upholding of such a dead spiritless Sacrifice since the Light of Christ hath so shined forth to make it manifest from whence it is Have not the Lambs of Christ formerly been persecuted and slain for refusing Conformity with the Whore in her Worship so far as they saw Light
all those called PRIESTS or MINISTERS O Ye that are called Priests or Ministers who preach to the people for hire and keep them in a Forme without the Power Is it possible that a Word of experience shewed me in the spirit being kept low with the Lord and in his fear may reach any of you I could willingly tell it you for my heart pitties you as you are men and I should rejoyce in your Salvation as well as of others But I see you stand in greatest danger of all men both by reason you have strengthened your selves in your holds by seeming Arguments and Interpretations of Scripture and Opinions of Men And also because Truth strikes directly at your Diana by which you subsist and have your livelihood as you call it Therefore it s hard for you to lend an ear to hear the Voice that calls out or to open your eye to let in a glimpse of that light that discovers it For if such a thought or motion do but offer it self I know Satan followes it immediately with this at the heels What then will become of us Oh that there were faith in you to trust God for your outward being and supply and a contented heart to live at Gods allowance Then would the Teachings of Truth more easily enter and finde place And verily trust him and let your eye be open to see the light which would shine into your own Consciences if your unbelief did not stop it and if your loving this present evil world and the deeds of darknesse did not keep you back from coming to it For he that loves truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Trust God I say for your outward subsistence and he will not forsake you utterly and let the light arise in your consciences concerning your wayes and seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousnesse thereof and you have the words of Christ for it which is above the word of any King who is Truth it self and cannot lye that all these things shall be added unto you I have found his word true by experience everlasting praises to his name And Oh how could I rejoyce to see your hearts brought down out of your formall wayes into the Obedience and power of Truth That you might not stand as a stop in the strait way hindring your own and others return unto God in the way of his Covenant My heart envies you not I speak in the presence of the Lord but in a tender Compassion to you I speak thus plainly and familiarly to you longing even for your Salvation also that if it be possible you might be delivered out of that deep pit in which you are faln For I have seen your horrid darknesse in which you stand God in mercy shewed it unto me and kept me out of it And I saw plainly that if I had entred into your livings as they are called I had entred into it But blessed be his name that kept me and allured me into the wildernesse there to feel his love and made me to sit down weeping in remembrance of ZION which I saw to be farr off and troden under foot by the Gentiles which had got into the outward Court and were there glorying in their Ordinances and crying out upon others as Seducers and Deluders and Hereticks while the HOLY CITY was troden under foot among themselves But the Lord hath shewed me upon whom the strong delusions are sent and for what Cause It is upon the disobedient who have pleasure in unrighteousnesse and for that cause because they love that and chuse unrighteousnesse to live in rather than the fear of God Therefore doth the Lord send them strong delusions even to believe a lye Come down to become as little Children and you will see the same also And I tell you plainly untill you do come down to become as little Children you cannot see God you cannot see the Kingdome of God you cannot judge righteously of the things of the Kingdome of God For how should you judge right of things that you cannot see Therefore humble your selves under the mighty hand of God and fear him who will make all bow before him and stoop to his will one way or other And stand not upon your Learning or Parts or any such thing For such things are of light account in the sight of God but come down to the place where God feeds his Babes even a low place it is a place of poverty of Spirit a place of mourning a place of hungring and thirsting And I tell you till you come thither you shall never feel any thing of the presence of God to your everlasting comfort And if you misse this what good will your Learning with all your vaunting do you Will it not all vanish away with vexation when an evill conscience arises and torment there enters and abides tormenting you in the presence of God and his holy Angels because you have neglected the one thing needfull even to walk with him in his fear in his pure light and so in a good conscience kept clear in the sight of God For without this the blood of Christ cleanseth you not from your sins Mind that lest you daub up your selves with untempered mortar I say the Blood of Christ cleanseth you not in the way of an evil Conscience in walking contrary to the Light of Christ But saith John If we walk in the Light as God is in the Light then have we fellowship and the blood cleanses But walking contrary to the Light there is made shipwrack of a good Conscience and the Conscience condemns and God is greater than the Conscience to condemn Consider it deeply for it is writ in Love and Faithfulnesse to your souls by one that yearns after your good and not after your destruction AN EXHORTATION to Those that have seperated Themselves from the SUPERSTITIONS of the PRIESTS YOU that have turned your backs of AEGYPT spiritually so called and have suffered hard Speeches and Reproaches and Injuries of Wicked Men in coming out of their grosser Abominations and Superstitions There is a tender respect in my heart towards you who have done this in obedience to a Principle of God in your hearts And my Desire for you is That You may not lose your Reward by looking back again to AEGYPT or by turning aside to this present evill World or to any of the hurtfull Lusts therein or by taking up your Habitation short of the Land of Rest But that you may be preserved in that tender Principle that led you forth that therein you may go forward and not backward But now do not think that you are come to the end of your journey because You have stepped out of Egypt Remember the many Journeys and Removes the Israelites had after they came out of Egypt before they arrived at the good Land of Promise and faint not but gird up the loyns of your